The Week Ahead: April 10 to 16

Local film scholar Shelly Isaacs will introduce (and take questions after) this engrossing French film, its country’s submission for the 2012 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. “Declaration of War” follows two lovers who are self-consciously doomed: Their names are Romeo and Juliette, after all. They enjoy a chance meeting at a pulsating nightclub, which leads to a whirlwind romance, which leads to a child – who soon develops a life-threatening cancer. What could have been a depressing slog is an exuberant study in modern relationship dynamics that melds realism with whimsy in a way that recalls vintage Francois Truffaut films. Don’t miss this final opportunity to see the film on the big screen.

Van Halen released five albums after 1984’s creatively titled “1984,” but for purists of the band, that’s the year the magic ended. It’s when David Lee Roth abandoned the classic-rock hitmakers. This year’s comeback album, “A Different Kind of Truth,” represents a return to form, its first release with Roth in 18 years. The accompanying tour, which arrives in Sunrise tonight, is more of a greatest-hits set than an album tour – expect megahits like “Eruption,” “Runnin’ With the Devil” and “Dance the Night Away.” Reviewing a Van Halen appearance in a recent issue of The New Yorker, Sasha Frere-Jones wrote that “Roth’s moves now have a weird echo of Bob Fosse routines.” Hopefully, your experience will fare better.

Now in its 17thyear, the annual Palm Beach International Film Festival returns to West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Palm Beach Gardens and Boca Raton for a week of 40 U.S. and world premiere feature films. The festivities begin tonight with the red-carpet premiere of “Robot and Frank,” a quirky dramedy about a retired cat burglar and the humanoid robot his children buy him to improve his life. It stars Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon and Liv Tyler. The ticket price includes admission to the 9 p.m. after-party at Two City Plaza, 701 S. Olive Ave. We’ll have more on other PBIFF titles later in the week here on bocamag.com.

Sexuality is a dangerous weapon in Christopher Hampton’s 1985 play “Dangerous Liaisons,” a disturbing, still-relevant period piece, set in pre-revolutionary France, about the destructive actions a marquise and a vicomte take on their unwitting victims. It’s had strong legs since premiering in Warwickshire, having inspired four film versions, including the 1988 Oscar winner scripted by Hampton and a 2003 version from Korea. Yet another South Korean version will be released this year, making it perfect timing for FAU’s hardworking theater students to recreate it. It runs through April 22.

Horn-driven funk legends Tower of Power have been redefining musical eclecticism since 1968, fusing soul, jazz, funk and rock across 18 studio albums and half a dozen live releases. The group, known simply as TOP to fans, has undergone countless lineup changes over its 40-plus years; its expanding list of former members rivals the number of extras in an epic movie. But its soulful sound has remained remarkably consistent through its many alterations. Hits include “So Very Hard to Go,” “You’re Still a Young Man” and “What is Hip?” – a question whose answer, of course, is Tower of Power.

Normally, when you tell a performer that he or she is acting like a mechanical doll, it’s an insult. But in “Coppelia,” Arthur Saint-Leon’s popular comic ballet, it’s a great complement. The ballet, which closes Miami City Ballet’s successful 2011-2012 season, concerns an inventor whose latest contraption, a life-size dancing doll, ends up stealing the heart of a village swain, whose real-life paramour pretends to be a doll herself to attract his attention. It’s a light denouement to what has been a heavy ballet season for MCB. Ironically, though, “Coppelia” originated from much darker source material: two macabre stories by ETA Hoffmann, including “The Sandman.”

You don’t want to mess with Joe Rogan. Even if his material offends you (and it offends many), you don’t want to get on his bad side. Before the provocative comedian became a provocative comedian, he earned a black belt in Kenpo karate, brown belts in two different forms of jiu-jitsu, and he’s a former U.S. Taekwondo champion. So yes, he could probably do a number on hecklers, but luckily the former “Fear Factor” host doesn’t get too many anymore. These days, he fights with words, and you know what to expect when you attend a Joe Rogan comedy show: a decidedly male, no-holds-barred perspective on relationships, politics, religion and social issues that, at times, sounds like the second coming of Bill Hicks. Get your tickets now – the late show on Saturday is already sold out.

On the heels of “Hoot,” “Flush” and “Scat,” Carl Hiaasen ventures out once again into young-adult fiction with “Chomp,” his latest action-verb-titled adventure story. The narrative looks politically tamer than some of the Florida author’s well-known forays into “environmental thrillers;” it concerns the son of a reality-TV animal wrangler who befriends an abused girl while his father’s TV series flies off the rails. It was released a couple of weeks ago and already has made Amazon’s list of Best Books of the Month for Kids, April 2012. The opening line of Chapter One is sure to grab any precocious adolescent: “Mickey Cray had been out of work ever since a dead iguana fell from a palm tree and hit him on the head.”